Velocity Gold Status Match for Qantas Flyers

Virgin Australia has launched a brand new status match offer for Qantas Frequent Flyer members with Gold, Platinum or Platinum One status.

If you currently hold a qualifying status tier with Qantas, and you haven’t held any level of status with Virgin’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program since April 2020, you’re eligible for this offer. You’ll receive three months of trial Velocity Gold status, and an opportunity to extend your status for a further year by completing a simple challenge.

This limited-time offer is available until 15 September 2023.

The new Velocity Gold status match offer coincides with the launch of Velocity’s new partnership with Luxury Escapes.

Who is eligible for this offer?

Officially, Virgin Australia’s “Discover Gold Trial” offer is open to “frequent flyers of other Australian airline programs with Gold status or higher”. Velocity doesn’t specifically name Qantas here. But given Rex still hasn’t launched a frequent flyer program, Qantas Frequent Flyer is the only other Australian frequent flyer program with status tiers.

Your Qantas Gold, Platinum or Platinum One status must currently be active, and you cannot have held Velocity Silver, Gold or Platinum status at any time since April 2020.

How to apply for a Velocity Gold status match

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you can apply for a Velocity Discover Gold trial by sending an email to [email protected]. Use the same email address that’s linked to your Velocity Frequent Flyer account.

Your email must include:

• Your full name
• Your Velocity Frequent Flyer membership number
• A photo of your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership card with your name, status and the card’s expiry date clearly visible

If your status match application is successful, Velocity Frequent Flyer will upgrade you to Gold status within six weeks – although it may be a lot sooner.

See the Velocity Frequent Flyer website for full offer terms and conditions.

What you’ll get during your 3-month trial

During your Discover Gold trial, you’ll get to enjoy most of the usual benefits of Velocity Gold status when flying with Virgin Australia and its partner airlines. This includes things like:

• Access to Virgin Australia lounges before departure and on arrival, where available
• Priority check-in
• Priority boarding
• Additional baggage allowance (except on Virgin Australia Economy Lite fares)
• Bonus points when flying with certain airlines

Some specific benefits are not provided during the trial period, but will become available if you complete the challenge and upgrade to full Velocity Gold status. These benefits are:

• Guaranteed Reward Seats for a family holiday
• Membership pause for parental leave
• Complimentary status memberships with hotel or car hire loyalty program partners

You also won’t receive a physical membership card or Gold luggage tags until after you complete the challenge.

How to renew your Velocity Gold status for another year

To extend your Velocity Gold status beyond the three-month trial period, you’d just need to fly at least one eligible Virgin Australia flight sector and earn at least 80 status credits during that period.

You can earn eligible flight sectors on all Virgin Australia marketed flights, except on Reward Seats and Economy Lite tickets. In other words, you’ll need to buy an Economy Choice, Economy Flex or Business Class ticket on a Virgin Australia flight.

Earning 80 status credits could be as simple as booking a one-way Business Class ticket from Melbourne to Gold Coast, Brisbane or Sunshine Coast. See our guide to Velocity status runs for more ideas.

Other Velocity Frequent Flyer status challenge opportunities

Velocity Frequent Flyer also offers a Gold status match challenge to Virgin Australia Business Flyer members. This offer is available to businesses that spend at least $2,000 on Virgin Australia flights within three months of joining the program.

Virgin also recently sent targeted status match challenge offers to selected Gold members.

Virgin Australia last offered a public status match to Qantas Frequent Flyer members in September 2022.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.